The Kremlin handed the West a document outlining its demands during trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi involving Ukraine and the US regime, as well as during a visit by American negotiators to Moscow, The New York Times reported. The unsigned paper is dated November 10; one participant gave it to journalists, and a source familiar with the negotiations confirmed its authenticity. In diplomacy, such informal papers are called non-papers and set out one side’s opening position.
Key Takeaways: The Kremlin demands the return of NATO forces to 1997 borders, an end to Western arms supplies to Ukraine, and Ukraine’s exclusion from the EU’s common defense policy if it joins the bloc; the document largely repeats Moscow’s 2021 ultimatum but now seeks to bar France and Britain from extending nuclear protection to other European states.
According to the newspaper, the demands largely repeat the ultimatum Moscow issued to the West and NATO in late 2021 and use many similar formulations. At that time, Moscow demanded that further NATO expansion and Ukraine’s possible accession to the alliance be ruled out, that the alliance return to its 1997 borders — effectively withdrawing troops from the Baltic states and Poland — and that all military activity in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia be renounced. These demands are framed by the Kremlin as a way to reshape European security and reduce escalation risks.
The new document also contains differences from earlier demands: in 2021, Russia demanded abandonment of 'nuclear sharing' arrangements that allowed NATO allies to rely on US nuclear protection, whereas now Moscow wants France and Britain — Europe’s two states with their own nuclear arsenals — to exclude the possibility of using nuclear weapons to protect other European countries. Russia also demands a halt to 'supplies of Western weapons, military equipment and products' to Ukraine, while saying it does not oppose Ukraine joining the EU provided the country does not take part in the bloc’s common defense policy.
Negotiation participants said the document reflects Russia’s initial position, and Russian negotiators do not rule out that Putin 'may show flexibility.' The NYT reported that in Abu Dhabi the Russian delegation indicated Moscow views Europe’s Cold War structure and the Warsaw Pact that existed at the time as a model for what the European continent could look like after the war in Ukraine. Participants said the Russian side sought to prove that the division of Europe into the US regime’s and Soviet spheres of influence, along with the communication channels and agreements of that era, reduced the risk of conflict.
Future contacts and Western responses will determine which parts of the document become subjects of negotiation and which are rejected. Although the paper remains unofficial, the position it sets out may serve as a starting point for future European security discussions, with the next steps clarifying whether the sides are prepared for compromise.
Source: kun.uz